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2 Israeli civilians and 3 Lebanese attackers killed in escalating fighting on Israel’s northern border
(JTA) — A man and his elderly mother were killed on Sunday when an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah struck their home, as tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon continue to rise.
Hours earlier, Israeli forces killed three Lebanese militants who attempted to infiltrate Israel. Five Israeli soldiers were lightly injured during the fighting with the militants, who were affiliated with a terror group separate from Hezbollah, and the military temporarily closed roads and village entrances in the area in response.
The clashes have come as fears have grown of war between Israel and Hezbollah. The terror group began firing rockets at Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion across the country’s southern border, and exchanges of fire have continued, creating the potential for a broader war in Israel’s north even as it has focused its firepower on its invasion of Gaza.
Several more anti-tank missiles struck various border communities in northern Israel on Sunday, but resulted in no injuries. Israel bombed two Hezbollah targets in response.
The deaths of Mira Ayalon, 76, and her son Barak, 45, in Sunday’s Hezbollah strike bring the total number of Israelis killed in the northern cross-border clashes to 15, nine of them soldiers, since October 7. Barak Ayalon was a member of his town’s civilian defense patrol. Mira Ayalon, in an interview with Israeli Channel 12, said she was “living in tension” and noted that her house was visible from Lebanon.
Some 200 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them fighters from Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated their homes due to the violence.
In addition to the tensions between Israel and Lebanon, the United States recently bombed the Houthis, a Yemeni terror group that has shot missiles at commercial ships and at Israel in the wake of Oct. 7. American diplomats have worked to prevent the Israel-Hezbollah hostiles from ramping up.
Before returning to the United States from a recent trip to the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told members of the press, “We want to make sure that through diplomacy we can create enough security and a strong sense of security. No one wants to see escalation there — Israel doesn’t, Lebanon doesn’t, and I actually don’t think Hezbollah does.”
Leaders of both Israel and Hezbollah appear to be anticipating the possibility of a wider war. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah was “making a mistake with us” by firing missiles at Israel.
“We will do everything to return security to the residents of the north,” he said to a group of soldiers, according to video posted to social media. “We also prefer, of course, that this will not be a broader campaign, but that’s their decision.”
In a speech on Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said his group “is causing losses to Israel.”
“The one who needs to fear from a war is Israel and the Israelis, and not Lebanon,” he said. “We have been preparing already 99 days for war and are not afraid of it. We will fight without any conditions.”
A recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that Israelis are split regarding whether Israel should open a second front with Lebanon, with 51% in support and 34% against.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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